When you go on study tours to the city of Dublin, on the eastern coast of Ireland, you will be able to explore the connections that two of the city’s most famous sons have there. First, take time to visit the birthplace of George Bernard Shaw and then head over to the James Joyce Centre, where you can learn more about the man who wrote one of the most important works in English literature. But not only does Dublin have a plethora of literary interest, it is also a city that is steeped in history and one that makes an ideal destination for study tours. The area where Dublin now sits was once called Eblana and inhabitation of the area has been dated back to about 140 A.D. Aside from being an international hub of education, arts, science, business, etc., the city is also, perhaps most famously, known as the place to spend St Patrick’s Day.
The Birthplace of George Bernard Shaw
Not only was George Bernard Shaw the only person to have ever won both an Oscar for his dramatic works and the Nobel Prize in Literature, he was a prolific play write, novelist and essayist as well. When you go into Dublin on your literature focussed study tours, you will be taken to the birthplace of one of the most important natives of Dublin. Located on 33 Synge Street is the birthplace of Shaw. It was here that he spent his younger days gathering the characters that would later crop up in his works. The house itself is where he was born in 1856 and it was opened to the public as a museum in 1992. Shaw has written sixty-three plays, many of which have received international recognition and have been performed on stage all around the world.
James Joyce’s Dublin
Although number 7 Eccles Street no longer exists (it was demolished), you can still see the original door to the house that was the home of James Joyce’s most well-known character, Leopold Bloom from Ulysses. Before you follow the path of this ‘Homeric’ character as he makes his way through an epic day in Dublin in June, take your study tours to the James Joyce Centre. Here you will find a house that is dedicated to the life and history of Joyce and his family in the city. Though Joyce never actually lived here, you will be able to wander through the rooms of a very similar house to the one he would have grown up in and learn about Joyce and his relatives. Once you have explored the house and Joyce’s life therein, head into the city and trace the trail of Bloom, noting that much of the city is still recognisable from the book and from his stories, The Dubliners.